More than 100 people in our area have lost their jobs. Employers at the Cargill distribution plant in Springdale laid off employees who worked with ground turkey meat.

"It's always a big deal when you have to inform anybody that there's going to be layoffs no matter what the conditions. We do everything we can to avoid those steps," Cargill Vice President of Operations Bobby Harris said.

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But for the time being, there's no work available for the 130 employees who worked in ground turkey production.

"That's a lot. You've got to think about the families," Springdale resident Joshua Willis said. "There's more than a 100 people going without food right now. It's 130 people laid off, but I guarantee you, they've all got family...and they're all hungry right now. It just sucks for everybody."

"That's a lot of families that aren't going to be able to pay some bills, and that's a lot of families that are going to run into problems with everything from mortgage to putting shoes on their kids feet...literally. That's a bad deal," Springdale resident Amable Courteau said.

Officials say the Cargill workers haven't been fired. They've been temporarily laid off meaning there's hope that they'll eventually get their jobs back.

"We have a process that needs to happen before we bring them back. One is to get further improvement with our Food Safety Plan, USDA approval, bring back our folks to work in the ground turkey processes and serve our customers," Harris said.

This all started two months ago when the Springdale plant was linked to a salmonella outbreak which killed one person and sickened dozens more.

"When that salmonella outbreak came out I didn't even buy any chicken, no pot pies, no nothing, and I'm all about that. This was turkey wasn't it? Yeah, I wasn't going anywhere near all that. Tons of people got sick off that," Springdale resident Joseph Moudy said.

That's exactly why the recall took place, which has now lead to numerous layoffs.

"Some of them will be called back because of open postings in our non-ground turkey department, so that will be good news for those people. In the meantime, we're doing our best to find a way to resolve this concern," Harris said.

He also said the layoffs were based on lack of seniority, and they don't anticipate anymore layoffs. Harris said officials are working on a better Food Safety Plan, and if they get approval from the USDA...those who were laid off can come back to work.